10 Moments You Might Have Missed in Breaking Bad’s ‘Ozymandias’

Did it feel like this episode contained everything you never wanted to see happen but sort of knew had to happen?

Season 5, Episode 14’s “Ozymandias” was gut-wrenching and terrible and awesome1 and heart-rending and depressing and nerve-wracking and utterly hellish. I’m fairly certain that these cliché ewords don’t even do justice to properly describing the emotional toll this episode takes on a long-time Breaking Bad viewer.2

AMC

The first time Walter White is ever on screen, he’s barely clothed, a scene meant to make us sympathize with his innocence. In this episode, Walter’s come full circle, though we’re no longer sympathetic:3 he’s finally been stripped bare and all the world knows full well the terrible might of Walter Hartwell White. We see one of the reasons the writers chose this episode’s title:

Now, onto ten moments you might have missed, even though you likely didn’t, because I’m fairly certain every viewer’s eye was glued to their screens for the entirety of the episode.

Is Jesse’s throwaway line from the cold open meaningful? I missed what he said the first time, so I had to rewind and listen to it again. As past Walter White explains “exothermic reaction” to Jesse, Jesse mumbles, “Put me into a coma why don’t you.” It could be nothing, or it could be a scary hint. After all, Hank’s parting words to Marie in the previous episode tipped the writers’ hands regarding his demise in this episode.4

Walter still thinks money can solve all of his problems. He tries to buy off Uncle Jack so that he won’t kill Hank. For a moment, I thought this was going to happen—that Jack would accept the cash—which made me wonder if Walter was going to give all of his 80 million to Jack. But that would have been too redemptive an act for Walter.

Here’s a moment I missed: I don’t get why Walter admits to Jane’s death after Jesse’s dragged out from beneath the car. Any clues here? Is it just vengeful hatred? Is Walter so angered by Hank’s death (which he apparently can’t see his own complicity in) that he feels the need to make Jesse suffer even more? I thought this was a strange moment, but it may be a setup for the final showdown between Walter and Jesse … as if Jesse didn’t have enough reasons to want to kill Walt.

There was much reflection going on in this episode, as in actualreflections. From Walter not being able to look at himself in the truck’s rearview mirror after Uncle Jack’s crew leaves To’hajiilee to the last scene of the episode as Walter’s face reflects in the sideview mirror of the Escape-to-Alaska van, Breaking Bad loves a good mirrored image. It hearkens back to the cold open in “Blood Money” where Walter sees his reflection in shattered glass at his condemned home. It also speaks to part of the fourth line of Ozymandias, “a shattered visage lies.“5

That epic, whistling, old-school song playing as Walter rolls his barrel of money through the desert is, properly, “Times A-Gettin’ Hard” by Eddy Arnold.6(Note: This isn’t the version used in the episode).

The lyrics are killer for this episode and Breaking Bad as a whole. I’m willing to bet the writers have held this gem back for just the right occasion:

Time’s a gettin’ hard boys, money’s gettin’ scarce
Times don’t get no better boys, gonna leave this place
Take my true love by her hand, lead her through the town
Say goodbye to everyone, goodbye to everyone
Had a joy a year ago, had a little home
Now I’ve got no place to go, guess I’ll have to roam
Take my true love by her hand, lead her through the town
Say goodbye to everyone, goodbye to everyone
Every wind that blows boys, every wind that blows
Carries me to some new place, heaven only knows
Take my true love by her hand, lead her through the town
Say goodbye to everyone, goodbye to everyone

If it hasn’t already been made abundantly clear throughout the history of Breaking Bad, the lyrics key us in to who Walter White’s “true love” really is.

Also, eagle-eyed viewer Clayton Underwood alerted me that I missed Walter rolling his barrel o’ cash past his pants from the pilot episode. How could I have missed such an epic callback?7

This episode could have been called “Walter’s True Confessions (Really).”8 It’s within this episode that, apparently, every last morsel of truth spills from Walter’s mouth. To Jesse, he admits to essentially killing Jane. Marie forces Skyler to tell Walt Jr. the whole ugly truth about his father. Walter cops to building his empire by his own might while cops listen to his call to Skyler. There’s no controlling the ramifications of these confessions.

When Marie confronts Skyler in Skyler’s office at the A1 Car Wash, Skyler wears all white while Marie wears all black.9 For Marie, this could signify that she’s in mourning (even though she doesn’t know it at that time), or that she’s bringing news of impending doom to Skyler. For Skyler, it could signify a certain measure of penitence, or a way to show her relative innocence in regards to Walter White’s duplicitous life. On the whole, it’s yet another yin-yang color palette that shows two characters at war with each other. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Skyler and Marie wearing similar colors in future episodes as a way of showing that they may be moving back toward each other, i.e. that their relationship may still be salvageable.

The quick cut to baby Holly all swaddled in pink in Skyler’s car, plus the ding-ding-ding of the car due to Flynn’s dangerous unbucklingways,10 instantly alerted me that the epic moment of impending doom11was finally uponus. Once the knife came out, did you fear that something even more unspeakable than what happened was actually going to happen? Ever since I read about the color coding of the series and how Holly’s always seen in pink,12 I’ve feared for her safety. Well, those fears have now been realized, and it’s even more terrifying than I could have imagined.

Four main characters drop to their knees at different points in this episode, each a grief-stricken response to a catastrophic event. Walter falls to his knees (then keels over on his side) after Uncle Jack shoots Hank. Jesse falls to his knees as Jack’s gang takes him away.13 Marie falls to her knees when she learns of her husband’s death. Finally, Skyler falls to her knees in the middle of the street as Walter rides off after kidnapping his own child, Holly. These visuals, among many interpretations, could again refer to part of the episode’s titular poem: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone / Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand / Half sunk, a shattered visage lies.”

Baby Holly in the fire engine had a napkin with the White’s home address written on it. While we can hope and pray that this means she’s safe, I fear that may not be the case. If there’s anything that Breaking Bad’s writers are good at,14 it’s purposefully upsetting and resetting our expectations.

How in the world is this madness going to end? How do you want it to end?

Until then, pray for Holly and Walt Jr. and Marie and Skyler and Jesse.15

1. There was a moment when Walt’s car ran out of gas and we see him observing the bullet holes in his car… there was a moment when the bullet hole made on the side of his car is right on the forehead of his reflection.

2. When Walt falls to the ground after Hank is shot, the close-up of his face, mouth agape, is eerily similar to Gus’ when his partner is shot in Mexico (by the pool).

3. Walt Jr.’s words to Skyler probably mirrored the thought of every anti-Skyler viewer since the beginning of the series, “you’re just as bad as him”, “why did you go along?”, “you’re a liar”.

4. Is there any significance to the fact that only one half of Jesse’s face is mutilated after being held captive by the Nazis? (not unlike Gus and that pink teddy bear?)

http://www.blakeatwood.com/ Blake Atwood

Superb points Jennifer, none of which I noticed, but should have been noticed. There are so many visual callbacks in this series. It’s impressive.

Re: #4, I both want to know and don’t want to know how Jesse received those marks. Good observation there. Hopefully it doesn’t mean that he’ll meet the same end, even though I think, sadly, that he will.

jen

Yes, poor poor Jesse.

Despite all of Walt’s atrocities, I’m still rooting for a redemption story. Here is another “moment” as illustrated in Fox News Entertainment:

Walt pauses his escape for possibly the last decent thing he can do. He calls Skyler and, knowing that cops are listening despite Skyler saying otherwise, he unleashes on her. He’s incredibly harsh as be berates her for always standing in his way and undermining him. He calls he a “stupid bitch” and warns that if she crosses him, she’ll wind up dead just like Hank. It’s Walt at his worst, but â€” while some may disagree â€” it’s also all an act.

That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of truth in what Walt says. He’s always had insecurities surrounding how much Skyler believes in him. And he’s probably angry that at this crucial point in the journey, Skyler has finally decided to jump ship. But just like Walt’s fake confession tape was grounded in truth, that’s why this lie works. He might feel betrayed by Skyler, but his hurtful tirade is ultimately an attempt to put distance between Walt’s crimes and Skyler. He’s taking full responsibility and painting her as the victim who always told him to stop. Walt is a different person than he was during that first lie-filled call from the desert, but perhaps he is still acting in the best interest of his family.

As for Walter, I think he could be redeemed, but I don’t think he will be redeemed. Justice is going to catch up with him in the end, and it’s going to be relentless, a sure “hell of heav’n” wrought by his own hands, regardless of his attempts to salvage what’s left of his notion of “family.”

http://www.songofsloman.com/ Garrett Sloman

This was once again genius on WW’s part. One minute into his “confession” to Skyler, it hit me that he was giving her a way out. He does still care deeply for his family, even as Heisenberg has eclipsed White. My question is whether taking Holly was part of the “set-up”. Quick thinking for Walt, although I’m sure the writers had more time to think about it.

Postmodernview

have you considered that maybe when Hank (before he dies) says “Youâ€™re the smartest guy I ever met and youâ€™re too stupid to see he made up his mind 10 minutes ago”, maybe Hank is talking to the audience?

Great point in your post Paolo. There’s a Tim Keller quote from his book “Prodigal God” that has always resonated with me when it comes to the fact that there’s always a price for sin, regardless of whether or not it’s the sinner who ultimately pays that price:

“God’s grace and forgiveness, while free to the recipient, are always costly for the giver …. From the earliest parts of the Bible, it was understood that God could not forgive without sacrifice. No one who is seriously wronged can ‘just forgive’ the perpetrator … But when you forgive, that means you absorb the loss and the debt. You bear it yourself. All forgiveness, then, is costly.â€

I don’t think forgiveness is in the cards for Walter, but Hank’s demise was a shocking portrayal of the consequences of bad, egocentric decisions.

Postmodernview

Beautiful and true that “no sin is without consequences”.
Thanks for reminding it!

http://randomlychad.com Chad Jones

I was so floored by that ep. I can’t seem to string any coherent thoughts together about it. Walt is ‘Ozymandias,’ whose works have come to naught. He is a man alone, and the clock is ticking down.

What’s interesting to me, as I (metaphorically) pull back to look at the larger canvas, what I see is that every time life, fate, chance, what have you, provided him with a chance to make a clean break, he makes the wrong choice, and plunges deeper in. And we see the depth of that in Ozymandias, as Walt’s one (ostensibly) uncrossable line is not only crossed, but eradicated with extreme prejudice right before his very eyes.

As heart wrenching as this episode was, there was not a single false note–no one acted out of character.